Because it is the start of a new month, I am sitting here working on my advertising budget for the month. If you are like me, and have limited funds for advertising, you are looking at ways to advertise for Free or at least low cost.

I wanted to give you a few ideas to try.

1. Traffic Exchanges: These are run with the idea to give the small business owner a chance to get seen. The following exchanges I use and recommend are run by WAHM's or Work at Home Mom's who are promoting their sites and helping others to promote their sites. They offer free and low cost advertising by way of ad button, banner ads and text ads. You join and agree to surf a minimum amount of sites per week, bi-weekly, monthly depending on the sites rules and in exchange you can place your ad for free for others to see. When joining there are several different options depending on your budget ranging from free to pro accounts which offer different incentives. The folowing are the traffice exchanges I use.

MomPoweredDreams
This one is fairly new but an awesome site. It is run by a WAHM friend of mine named Shanni who makes it her first priority to help other WAH's to succeed. Just click on the name to be taken to her site.

TheCinnamonHollow
This site is another of my favorites. It is run by a great WAHM by the name of Krystal. She also goes out of her way to help others. She offers a lot of  bonus hits and makes it fun to surf. Check her site out.

WAHM-Trade
This site also offers great customer service and its owner is another WAHM who is very helpful. They are bit bigger than the other TE's but still offer that one on one service. I also love this one.Check them out.

FrugalWAHMAdvertising
This site is the newest of all the TE"S (Traffic Exchanges) I use so I can't fully evaluate it at the moment. It is run by 2 WAHM"S and I just started with them but have noticed good customer service as well. They are offering a Grand Opening Special.Check them out.

Well, these are the ones that I use. Of Course their are others out there. Do a search by Googling "Traffic Exchanges" to find them. A lot of other TE's are larger and geared to ward different MLM and businesses. The ones listed in this blog are geared at the WAHM's( and I don't want to slight the WAH Dad's and grandparents either) and cater to the small at home business,etsy shops, craft businesses,etc.

Whether you choose one of these TE's or others out there, you can get your banner or ad button with a link to your business website seen by others and get your name out there. And, quite possibly, like myself make a few friends at the traffic exchange along the way.

(My next blog will cover how to get your ad buttons and banners made)

 

 



 

 

 
 

I was listening to the religious channel and the preacher was talking about God. She basically said "What you see by faith, God will give it to you." I am a Catholic and I believe in God. I have faith, and believe that God will help me overcome many obstacles, but there are a lot of people that are not of the same faith as I.

As I sat there and watched the one hour show, I started to think about the power in positive thinking. It works in the same way as faith and beliefs.If you have faith in yourself, and believe you can do something, you will be successful.

Let's take me for example. I am a registered nurse who had worked in obstetrics and NICU for about 20 years. I got injured on the job and had multiple surgeries. I experienced complications and subsequently became disabled. I could no longer work as an RN, in essence I can't even work outside the home. Sure I went through a time of feeling depressed because I couldn't do what I loved anymore, and I didn't know what was out there for me to do. I was a nurse. Nursing was my life, my career. I didn't let my situation stop me. I wanted to make something of myself despite what life had dealt me. I wanted success. I just had to find it.I did a lot of research on the Internet and found out that I wanted to start a home business. As I sat there and listened to what was involved in getting started in a home candle business , I thought at first, how am I going to accomplish this? I have no knowledge of business or the Internet. I told family and friends, and they were skeptical. They told me "What are you thinking?" My husband said "Are you in your right mind?" Well, I needed to prove them wrong. In essence, this gave me the drive and push I needed.

Well, back to the topic, Positive Thinking. You need to have it to be successful in life. You have to work with it, meaning you can't sit there and wait for success to come to you. You have to take responsibility for yourself and work on your success. No one is going to do it for you.It is so powerful, that if you believe and remain positive, along with hard work, you can accomplish anything.

You are going to remain where you are in life if all you think about is what you now have or don't have. Dread and fear are two things that bring about failure. Bad attitude and the wrong mindset can also lead to failure. You can help yourself to change and have a better life if you change your mindset and attitude. You can change what you have or don't have by setting goals. Tell yourself "I can do something about my life." "I can change my situation." Ask yourself these questions:

1.What do I want to accomplish in life?

2.What can I do to accomplish this?

3.What do I want to do when(not if) I become successful?

4.What are my goals? What do I want to accomplish in one week? A month? A Year from now?

You need to sit and make a plan. Set it up with daily, weekly, and monthly goals. Break down the activities you need to do this by daily, weekly and monthly. Re-evaluate your goals and plan weekly and monthly and change it as needed. For example, my goal was to learn as much as I could about the home business I started and the Internet. I set aside 6-8 hours everyday to research books and articles on topics related to marketing because my goal is to have a successful on line business and to promote that business to others who want the same success. So in order to achieve this I had to learn how to market on the web, promote myself, and lastly my business. I listed to what the directors and executives in the business had to say. I approached people and talked to them about what I was promoting. I even wrote articles and posted in my blog about what I was able to accomplish.

Here are a few things to do to promote positive thinking, attitude and success:

1. Make a dream board. This can be a piece of poster board with pictures of objects that stand for each of your goals. Put this in a place where you will see it everyday. It gives you that push you need to keep your positive attitude.

2. Look at yourself in the mirror every morning and say "I am a success." Keep that positive attitude all day as are out and about because positive thinking makes you more approachable to others.

3. Make yourself do something that scares you. Take yourself out of that comfort zone. For me, this was talking to people about my business on the phone. I set my plan to talk to 2 new people each day, and I overcame my fear.

4. Write in a blog or journal daily or when you accomplish something that makes you feel good. This gives you positive reinforcement that you are a success and you can do anything you put your mind to. Go back once a week and read you postings. It will give you a sense of accomplishment which will boost your positive attitude.

5. Write and publish articles. Get out of your comfort zone. Let others know you are successfully showing them what you learned as you worked to achieve your success.

6. Be persistent. You need to keep going even if you might have setbacks along the way. Be consistent with your goals and plan of action. You will be able to see progress, even in small ways.

If you want success, you have to have the right mindset and a positive attitude. You have to overcome your fears. You can't passively sit and wait for success to come to you. You need to be energetic and active in finding what is needed for your success. If you are passionate and have drive, positive thinking will make your success a reality.